A System Balanced on a Knife Edge – It’s Snow Joke for Forecasters
The deep area of low pressure developing and heading across southern England on Friday is one of those weather systems that makes forecasters quietly sigh, put the kettle on, and cancel any plans they had for being confidently correct. Not because it lacks potential, quite the opposite - but because it sits right on the most awkward of battlegrounds. Cold air is already in place, milder air is trying to barge in from the Atlantic, and the ...
A Tale of Pink Fog
This morning I looked outside, did a double take, and briefly wondered whether I was still half-asleep. Because the fog was pink. Not sort of pink. Proper, rosy, “has someone messed with the settings?” pink. In all my years of staring out of windows and obsessing about the weather, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before, so naturally my first thought was: what on earth is going on now? Thankfully, it turns out nothing dramatic ...
The Ritual of Winter Ashes Misery
I should know better than to get up early on a winter morning to watch England get thrashed by Australia. But I can’t help myself. Some deluded part of my brain insists I must endure every abject performance, just in case I miss the once-in-a-generation moment England accidentally do something worth celebrating. In this latest cricketing catastrophe, England have added an extra layer of torment by occasionally looking like they’re on top ...
Is Climate Change Supercharging the Jet Stream – and Ruining Our Chances of Proper Winters?
What We Need for a Classic Winter One of the quirks of UK winter is the “blocking high”. that stubborn ridge of high pressure which parks itself over Greenland or Scandinavia and funnels icy Arctic air towards us. When one of these blocks settles in, we get the sort of winter weather people still get misty-eyed about: crisp days, deep frosts, frozen ponds, maybe even some snow that sticks around long enough to matter. Why Blocking ...
How Much Do You Cost in State Funding?
One thing that I find odd, is that nearly all my working life, I have been told in the media that tax is evil, spawned from the devil of socialism. The truth is, most people cost the state far more than they think and would die in poverty if state health and education was privatised and taxation was abandoned. It would be like living with Mad Max Beyond the Thunderdome. We all know a certain type of person who loves to shout:“I’ve ...